Floating elevator



(No Model.) 1 2 She,etsSheet 1.

J. NOLAN.

FLOATING ELEVATOR. I No. 247,575. Patented Sept. 27,1881.

F161. 1. 1 16.3. T5 A Witnesses flam ng.

(No Model.) 7 2 Sheets-Shet 2.

J. NOLAN.

FLOATING ELEVATOR.

Patented Sept. 27,1881.

s Witnesses:

7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES NOIJAN, OF SGRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

FLOATING ELEVATO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 247,575,'dated September 27, 1881.

Application filed August 10, 1881.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES NOLAN, of Scranton, in the county of Lackawanna and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements on a Floating Elevator; and I do hereby declare that the following description of my said invention, taken in connection with the accompanying sheet of drawings, forms a full, clear, and exact speci-. fi'cation, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention has general reference to floating elevators for handlingand transferringcoal and other substances; and it consists, essentially, in the novel and useful combination of parts and details of construction,

as hereinafter first fully set set forth and described, and then pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings already referred to, which serve to illustrate my invention more fully, Figure 1 is a rear elevation of my improved coal, &c., elevator. Fig. 2 is a plan of the'same below the line 3 y of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan of a portion of the vessel below the line as w of said Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, portion of the hull of the vessel being broken away to disclose theinterior construction. Fig.

4. is a sectional elevation'of a portion of the.

guide-rails for the hoppers and for the elevator-leg, illustrating the means for elevating and lowering said parts by means of the gearing, shown in elevation. 4

Like parts are designated bycorres'ponding letters of reference in all the figures.

The object of my present invention is the production of a floating elevator, by means of which coal or other substances may be trans. ferred from one vessel upon another, or from a vessel to the docks, &c.,with great convenience and dispatch and without damage to the coal, &c. To attain this end I construct a vessel or boat, A, in any suitable dimensions and .inianner, depending somewhat upon the localtity where the floating elevator is being or to be used. This vessel I provide with a suitable engine, B, receiving its motive power from a boiler, O, placed in the'forward part of said boat, said engine being connected with a propeller-shaft, D, in the usual manner, except that said shaft B is provided with a shifting (No model.)

or other coupling, E, so that the engine-shaft may be connected with or disconnected from said propeller-shaft at any time, so as to either propel the boat or to drive a hoisting-gearin g in a manner hereinafter to be referred to.

Upon and within the vessel A, I construct a multiple-story building or structure in any durable and suitable manner, and provide said building centrally with four vertical guiderails, F E F F respectively, within which are suspended a hopper, G, and an additional hopper, H, both provided with telescoping or otherwise rendered adjustable spouts I J, re-

spectively. The lower one of these hoppers is mounted upon a scale-beam arrangement or platform, K, as indicated in Fig. 4;, and the upper one constructed to either discharge directly through its spout or through its bottom into the lower hopper, G. Both the hoppers G H are fixed to a sliding frame, L, capable of being' elevated and lowered by means of a block and tackle, M, and a hoisting-gearing, as hereinafter to be described.

At a proper inclination to the vertical guides F there are arranged two guide-posts, N N, respectively, within which is fitted a sliding frame, 1?, carrying an elevator, Q, the spout Q of which is directly over the hopper H, so

as to discharge the material into said hopper.

This elevator is rendered capable of bein g raised or lowered by a block and tackle, R, and its rope, as indicated in Fig. 4. Within the framework of this floating elevator are arranged two more guide-beams, S S, within which are lopulley, A, and two friction-pulleys, X X, the 5 latter being constructed to engage two similar pulleys, Y Y, on a countershaft, Z. Upon this counter-shaft are mounted two pinions, 1 and 2, the former engaging a spur-wheel, 3,

mounted upona shaft carrying adrum,4,and the 1 oo latter engaging a spur-wheel, 5, through the intervention of an intermediate gear'wheel, 6,

in order to give motion to a winding-drum, 7, placed upon a shaft, 8, together with said spurwheel 5.

Of the two drums 4 and 6 the former receives the rope 9, which passes up to the block and tackle R, while the latter receives the rope 10, which passes up to the block and tackle M, as clearly illustrated in Fig. at.

In operation, the floating elevator is first propelled to the place where the transfer of coal, &c., is to take place by connecting the propeller-shaft D with the engine-shaft and throwingthe shaftD outofgear, or by floating the vessel containing the material to be transferred to the floating elevator. N ow, the elevator-leg Q, is lowered into the hold of said vessel by disconnecting the propeller-shaftD and connectingtheshaftl) with the engine-shaftD by manipulating the clutches E and E in the proper manner, so as to revolve the windingdrunis 4 and 7, and then the hoppers G and H are adjusted so as to be directly underneath the discharge-spout Q of the elevator. The latter is now setin motion and the contents of the loaded vessel transferred in the usual manner.

If it is only desired to transfer the load without regard to its weight, a slide, H, in said hopper is made to close the same on its lower end, so that the substance to be transferred may be directly passed through the spout or chute I; but if the goods are to heweighed, said slide in the hopper H is alternately opened and closed, so as to discharge its contents into the weighinghopper G, resting upon a scale beam arrangement, K, Fig. 3, in such manner that when the hopper H is filled it is emp tied into the hopper G, having a slide in its bottom the same as the hopper H,said slide being closed. Jlhe hopper G being then filled, the weight of its contents is ascertained and then its slide pulled so as to discharge its contents through the chute J, the operations being continued until the transfer has taken place.

It will now be observed that this elevatoris especiallydesigned forhandlingcoal,(although grain and other substances may be transl'erred,) and that owing to the construction of the two hoppers-21a, their capability of being raised and lowered to follow the position of the discharge-spout of the elevator-leg-there is an enormous saving of coal, which in other elevators is broken up in its fall and turned into dust and small fragments.

Having thus fully described my invention,I claim as new and desire to secure to me by Letters Patent of the United States- I. In elevators, the combination, with the elevator-leg Q, having the spout Q, of means, substantially as described, for raising and lowering said leg, and the hopper H, having the adjustable spout I, said hopper II being sus' pended within suitable guides and provided with means for raising and lowering, substantially in the manner as and for the object specified.

2. In elevators for transferring coal, &c., two hoppers suspended within a frame constructed with capability of being raised and lowered, both hoppers being provided with spouts, and the upper one constructed to discharge into the lower hopper, as described, the lower hopper beingprovided with a scale-beam arrangement, substantially in the manner as and for the use and purpose stated.

3. In floating elevators for transferring coal, the combination, with the engine-shaft, of a main shaft coupled to said engine-shaft by a sliding coupling, said shaft being provided with the pulleys X X, the friction-pulleys Y Y upon the shaft Z, pinions 1 and 2, spurwheels 3 and 5, intermediate wheel, 6, and the winding-drums 4 and 7, the whole being constructed for operation substantially in the manner as and for the object stated.

4. In floating elevators for transferring coal, 850., the combination, with the guide-posts F, F, F, and F, of the cage L, the hoppers G and II, the block and tackle M, and the hoisting device consisting of the winding-drum 7 and the mechanism for operating said winding-drum, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have hereto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES NOLAN.

Attest:

M. J. WALSH, E. J. LYNETT. 

